MSP Marketing: Proven Plans to Grow Your IT Business

Did you know the Managed services provider (MSP) market value is $344 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $500 billion by 2028? This is surprising but true.

The statistics show the massive potential in the IT industry to grow your business to great heights. However, there’s a catch: You have to invest in effective MSP marketing strategies for brand awareness, client acquisition and retention.

In this comprehensive MSP marketing guide, we’ll explore proven marketing methods you should know to make your MSP business outshine competitors, thrive and enjoy sustained growth. Read on to discover.

Part 1 : What Is MSP Marketing?

Managed services marketing is a process where MSPs employ various activities and strategies to promote their business. In the competitive IT industry, marketing is crucial to ensure target customers know about your brand and are convinced they can trust you with their unique tech-related needs.

Successful marketing begins with identifying challenges hindering your MSP growth. Are you struggling with pricing, low-quality leads or inconsistent lead streams? Establishing factors that are stalling your MSP marketing efforts will help you develop a clear strategy.

While the end game is revenue generation, an effective MSP marketing plan primarily focuses on educating or informing potential customers about your brand first. As your brand gains popularity, target customers will gain confidence in your services, eventually becoming loyal clients.

Here are various marketing benefits for your MSP business:

Increasing brand visibility: Strategies including social media marketing and email campaigns enhance brand awareness and visibility.
Connecting with the right audience: content marketing, for example, helps you engage and connect with the target audience through quality content.
Lead generation: Inbound and outbound MSP marketing strategies provide quality leads.
Lead nurturing and client retention: If done right, MSP marketing methods like emails attract new prospects and nurture relationships, ensuring a high client retention rate.

Part 2 : Best MSP Marketing Guide

Like other IT businesses, the MSP market is already mature and competitive, posing a unique challenge to MSPs. But don’t let this discourage you.

Strategic marketing is a crucial aspect for startups and seasoned MSPs. However, the trick to successful marketing lies in the method you choose for your business.

Here are some it MSP marketing methods you should try:

1. MSP Social media marketing

With over 5.22 billion users worldwide, social media remains an effective marketing tool for MSP businesses. This huge user base makes social media marketing a buzzword in the digital marketing space.

Social media provides a golden opportunity to reach your target audience easily. However, choose the right social media platform depending on your unique business needs. For instance, if you want to share tutorial videos, focus on TikTok and YouTube, but if you intend to share long-form tech posts with your potential clients, LinkedIn is your best bet.

To determine the best social media strategy for you, consider your audience type, their favorite platforms and your type of content. Some social media marketing best practices include:

Create and use a business page: while it’s a good starting point, avoid posting social media content from your personal account. Use a professional business page instead.
Position your contact information strategically: Add clear contact details to make it easy for clients in need of your MSP services to reach you.
Understand platforms: Facebook content may not work on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. So, tailor-make unique content for different social media platforms.
Be consistent: Post valuable, fun, engaging content consistently to foster long-term relationships.
Choose value over hard selling: Avoid being too salesy but instead focus on sharing valuable social media content that genuinely educates.
Track performance: Use analytics from different platforms to track the performance of your posts. This helps you reevaluate your marketing strategies for the best results.

2. MSP Email marketing

According to a 2023 Statista survey, 52% of marketing professionals saw a double improvement rate on return on investment( ROI) from their e-mail marketing campaigns. This is enough evidence that email marketing works for B2B and B2C businesses, including MSPs.

To leverage emails toward growth, launch email campaigns to educate potential clients about your company and make them know more about what you offer. Don't be too quick to close sales; offer valuable, expert information about your client's pain points. The idea is to create and nurture relationships that ultimately become loyal clients.

For successful MSP email marketing, timing is everything. Know when to educate, when to announce events and when to set meetings with your new leads.

Some tips for successful email marketing campaign optimization include:

Understand your audience: Who are you targeting with your message? Know your target audience and tailor a message specifically for them.
Create a segmented email list: divide your email lists according to preferences, personal data, and past interactions to ensure targeted email content.
Write a compelling subject line: A catchy, compelling email subject line determines whether potential clients open your emails or not.
Email personalization: To create audience-focused emails, personalize your emails by using the prospect’s name in your headlines and body.
Include a clear Call to Action (CTA): Include a clear CTA to clarify what you want the target audience to do after reading your emails.
Automate campaigns: Automate email campaigns with automation tools such as Hubspot and Mailchimp to streamline communication.
Monitor performance: Use key performance indicators to track your emails’ click-through, open rate and conversion rates.

3. MSP Content marketing

If done correctly, content marketing is one of the best MSP marketing methods available. As the name suggests, this tactic involves creating compelling, engaging, informative, value-driven content and sharing it online. Doing so increases brand awareness and boosts your website's SEO ranking.

The content could be blog posts, white papers, case studies or newsletters that answer your target audience's questions. Publishing valuable content shows that you are a reliable source of information, in addition to satisfactorily answering your audience's queries.

Content marketing positions you as an authority, and customers feel inclined to source IT services from credible brands. You can efficiently perform content marketing by consistently publishing on your website or guest-posting on other sites.

But sadly, 55% of B2B marketers still find creating content which prompts a desired action challenging as illustrated below:

Source: content marketing institute

To minimize such challenges, here are MSP content marketing tips in a nutshell:

Be authentic: ensure you post original content with actionable advice and not regurgitated, boring content.
Engage your audience: Be empathetic in your content and engage your target audience by replying to comments and questions.
Be transparent: Don’t give half-baked information. Share details in full. For instance, explain everything if you're writing a how-to piece about a technical problem and include relevant examples.

4. MSP Website marketing

Website marketing is another powerful marketing method for MSPs. A well-designed, user-centric website paints a picture of a professional IT brand that clients can rely on for IT solutions.

To leverage website marketing for your MSP business, ensure you optimize your website for SEO to make it searchable on search engines. The more visible your business is, the more leads you'll likely get.

Ensure the website is highly responsive so clients can reach you. According to a recent study, a B2B site that loads in 1 second has a conversion rate five times higher than that of one that loads in 10 seconds.

Source: Portent

Also, place contact information strategically and make your CTAs clear. Since content is king in website marketing, ensure you publish relevant, informative, jargon-free web content enriched with appropriate images.

Here’s how to maximize website marketing as an MSP:

Leverage content: Create compelling blog posts, videos and multimedia to attract your target audience.
Enhance load speed: Improve your website’s load speed by minimizing redirects, caching and compressing images to enhance user experience.
Include keywords: Integrate keywords with your content to improve SEO ranking.
Be mobile-friendly: Optimize your site for mobile devices to enhance Google rankings.
Post Customer reviews: Ask for customer reviews on Google to attract new leads and build trust.
Connect your website: Link your website to your social media pages to reach a wider audience.

5. Pay per Click advertising (PPC)

If you are looking for a quick way to enhance your online visibility and generate new leads, Pay-per-click (PPC) is your best option. Since 90% of users see Google ads, PPC is excellent for putting your MSP business in front of many eyes.

Aside from Google ads, you can also use Bing and LinkedIn ads. PPC When using this advertising model, you pay every time a person clicks on your website.

Launching a PPC campaign involves creating targeted ads that appear on Google search results and various sites, including social media platforms. Although the ads come at a cost, they're worth your investment because every click brings a new visitor to your website.

Some actionable PPC tips include:

Establish goals and budget: Set measurable goals and a reasonable budget for your PPC campaigns to ensure you get exposure without overspending.
Be consistent: Use the same theme and messaging in your keywords, landing pages and ads.
Ad extensions: Include extensions like site links and CTAs in your ads.
Try negative keywords: Add negative keywords to prevent extra costs from irrelevant traffic.

6. Search Engine Optimization

A successful digital marketing plan can never be complete without Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This method boosts your website’s visibility by making it appear on search engines’ first pages. Appearing on Google's first pages builds your brand's online reputation as customers learn about you.

According to Forbes, less than 1 % of internet users view the second page of search results. Based on this information, any serious MSP can’t ignore the power of SEO in marketing their business.

To use SEO for MSP marketing, do the following:

Check your website design: Ensure your website’s architecture enhances a smooth user experience.
Keyword research: Use relevant keywords appropriately in your web content.
Upload high-quality web content: Create and publish authoritative, informative content that answers potential user queries.
On-page optimization: Add well-optimized titles and meta descriptions complete with descriptive URLs.
Build backlinks: To make your content credible, create high-quality backlinks that drive organic traffic from other sites to yours.

7. MSP Referral marketing

Nothing can beat referrals as a source of new customers for MSPs. Referral marketing, also known as word-of-mouth marketing, occurs when one or more of your satisfied customers recommend your business to others, ultimately bringing you more clients.

Source: Trust Radius

What’s unique about referral marketing is its ability to create a steady stream of long-term MSP clients and brand loyalists. https://www.trustradius.com/vendor-blog/b2b-buying-disconnect-2021

Surprisingly, it is a contagious process. For instance, a satisfied customer can bring a new prospect, and once they convert into a loyal customer, they refer another new lead, and the cycle continues. As per the Harvard Business Review, referred customers buy more and refer 30-50% more new prospects.

To get the best out of referral marketing, use these tips:

Determine goals: What do you want from referral marketing? Is it new clients or new subscriptions? Define your MSP marketing goals clearly.
Satisfy your customers: Offer the best services to your existing customers, and they will refer your IT Company.
Offer rewards and incentives: To motivate the referrer and referee, consider offering cash rewards, discounts or freebies.
Make it shareable: devise a strategy for clients to share your business on social media and other online spaces.

Conclusion

With the global managed service provider market expected to grow a CAGR of 14.20% by 2031, it is evident MSPs have to increase their marketing efforts significantly. The good news is that your business can thrive with strategic marketing strategies. Explore our MSP marketing guide to find the most suitable methods to help you beat the competition.

Hot FAQs about MSP Marketing

What is an MSP go-to marketing strategy?

Isabella

A Go-To-Market strategy (GTM) refers to a technical business plan that explains the various MSP services you offer, your target audience and the different methods you'll employ to outsmart your competitors. It is like a blueprint, including your step-by-step details for successful, time-bound new product launches. Some benefits of GTM strategy for MSP businesses include financial risk reduction, revenue increase, enhanced brand recognition and increased efficiency.

What Is the Difference Between MSP Sales and MSP Marketing?

Isabella

Although marketers use these terms interchangeably, they have different meanings. Managed services marketing primarily focuses on increasing brand awareness through educating and informing potential clients about your MSP services. MSP marketing is not directly sales-oriented. It's about building a relationship that ultimately leads to sales. Conversely, MSP sales strategies mainly focus on generating revenue for your business. MSP sales methods include lead identification, lead acquisition, nurturing and closing sales.

What Are the Best MSP Marketing Tools?

Isabella

There are various proven marketing tools that MSPs can utilize to grow their businesses. Google analytics is one effective tool for tracking website traffic and monitor the performance of marketing campaigns. Additionally, Google Search Console is another crucial tool for monitoring and improving your website’s performance. Other essential tools MSP marketing tools are Hootsuite for social media management, Mailchimp for email marketing and Semrush for SEO.